T.E.S.S. Unlimited was founded by Tessa de Goede in The Netherlands in August 2008. Tessa moved to Guatemala a few years ago and started volunteering for a primary school in the little village of Santa Catarina Bobadilla, and for the Franciscan hospital "Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro" in Antigua. Seeing the many needs in Guatemala, she has started 3 projects in the field of education, nutrition & health care:
1. An Educational Centre ("Centro Educativo") for children and adults of the villages of San Gaspar Vivar, Santa Catarina Bobadilla and San Juan del Obispo;
2. A Milk Project ("Proyecto de Leche Infantil"), to hand out baby formulae to malnourished baby's and young children;
3. The Gift of a Smile ("Proyecto Sonrisas"), a project started in February 2010 to a) search baby's and children with cleft lip/palate, b) refer these patients to visiting surgical teams, and c) offer pre and post op care if necessary.
Efecto Mariposa assists T.E.S.S. Unlimited with the project management of The Gift of a Smile and with the registration of "Asociacion T.E.S.S. sin limites" in Guatemala.
Last Saturday, T.E.S.S. brought 18 patients with cleft lip/palate to the annual surgical mission of "Faces of Hope" at Obras Sociales. The majority will receive life changing surgery this week. What a great start of a wonderful project!
